With all the tasks your clients have on their plates, it's not surprising that many of them are unsure of how to manage employee absences and disabilities. After all, helping employees with stay-at-work or return-to-work assistance may not be an everyday occurrence, especially at smaller companies.
According to recent research from The Standard, nearly two-thirds of human resources managers are not confident in how their organizations handle employee disabilities and accommodations. This opens up a great opportunity for you as a broker to help your clients learn more about how carriers can provide disability management assistance.
Some disability carriers offer consultants who can help HR managers on everything from managing at-risk employees to coordinating benefits from multiple carriers. You can rely on these experienced professionals to help your clients get answers and, at the same time, position yourself as a trusted advisor.
To help you in advising your clients, here are three common questions that are often asked regarding disability management, with suggested ways of answering them:
“What can I do to help an employee who may need to take disability leave due to some health issues?”
Start by reaching out to a consultant from your disability carrier to talk through the at-risk employee's specific situation. The consultant—either a nurse, vocational, or mental health consultant, depending on the employee's situation—can help with preventive measures. These can include ergonomic accommodations or temporary job placement, which may help ward off additional injury or strain, increase the employee's productivity and prevent time out of the office.
If the employee is already on disability leave, a consultant can also assist with return-to-work plans.
The consultant can help smooth the employee's transition back to work, taking medical limitations or restrictions into account to provide the best possible solution for both employee and employer.
“How can I make the most of my employee wellness program?”
Most employers like yours provide resources to help employees stay healthy—and stay at work. Employee assistance programs and wellness/disease management programs are some of the most common.
To get the most from these programs, survey employees to see what resources would be most beneficial or match at-risk employees with the right resources. In sensitive situations, a disability consultant can ask the employee tough health-related questions for you. He or she can help encourage an employee to connect with the appropriate resources, or direct an employee to options offered by other carriers in your benefits package.
“How can I help an employee with the claims process, when I'm confused, too?”
Navigating disability claims can often be time consuming. If you don't have time to guide an employee through the process, a carrier consultant can work with the employee's doctor to deal with health-related concerns and help recommend the best approach to keep the worker productive.
Here's a phrase we've all heard before: Two heads are better than one. With a knowledgeable third-party consultant to help solve these common issues, you may be able to increase workplace productivity and mitigate time out of the office.
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